Laboratory team makes electronics breakthrough

GROUND-breaking discoveries have been made in the world of electronics at Warrington’s Daresbury Laboratory.
A team of scientists led by the University of Glasgow have created a new type of molecular device that has the potential to dramatically increase the storage capacity of electronic gadgets.
This means an MP3 player with one million gigabyte memory could soon become a reality.
Using X-rays at the Daresbury Laboratory’s synchrotron light source (SRS), the team has formed a totally new type of molecular switch using nanoparticles, paving the way for a new generation of devices and applications.
The key advantage with these findings is that memory capacity in devices will be increased dramatically in even the tiniest of spaces, meaning that a small mobile phone could have the same memory capacity as the most powerful personal computer.
Dr Vin Dhanak, a research scientist at Daresbury said: ”This research shows that the potential is there for your future iPod to have hundreds of thousands times more capacity to store music and video than currently possible. As in the case with other molecular based devices, such as carbon nanotubes, the challenge we are faced with now is in resolving fabrication issues.”